A couple of short items as the holiday nears, with links to other pieces to read when you have time. Coming this weekend: A visual diary on “Resilience.”
Transitions are opportunities — a brief, sometimes uncertain pause in the midst of change — to reflect on what has taken place as you prepare to move forward. I spend a great deal of time thinking about how any narrative — written or visual — can and should shift into the next phase.
December has long been the transitional month in our family. It’s when all four of our kids were born, three of them within a single calendar year. When our kids were younger, I used to liken the holiday/birthday season to being shot out of a cannon at Thanksgiving and landing sometime around New Year’s Eve. Our family tagline, in many ways, was “Transitions R Us.”
The holiday season remains a time of transition, albeit different, as we watch our adult children navigate their own life changes. Last Friday, Nicholas turned 30, a fact I’m still trying to wrap my head around. Then, on Sunday, Ben and Emma turned 25, an age they will share with Kate until two days after Christmas.
Nick is married, living in Durham, and now working remotely for a Boston advertising firm. Kate also is married and expecting her first child in February. Ben and Emma are living in New York City, both in committed relationships and navigating life as they pursue their careers.
For Jill and me, the transitions are not as sudden or frequent as they were during the two-decade child rearing phase, but they are never ending. Until our story ends, that is.
Even then, one can only hope your legacy lives on through your kids, grandkids, and those whose lives you touch.
Sandy Hook Anniversary
Yesterday marked the 10th anniversary of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting that killed 20 children and six educators in Newtown, Conn. Given my work this fall in Santa Fe (see below), I found myself immersed in reading about this tragedy as well.
Two stories in particular were extremely well done:
John Woodrow Cox, in Sunday’s Washington Post, interviewed four survivors of elementary school shootings that have taken place over the past 40 years
Sandra Diamond Fox, in Connecticut’s NewsTimes, interviewed three Newtown students — two in high school and one in college — who survived the shooting.
Thank You
A heartfelt thank you to those who have taken the time to read and comment here, on social media, and via phone email on the Santa Fe stories that I posted earlier this month. If you have not had a chance to read them, the links and short descriptions are below.
